That Price We Paid
by dtill359
Summary: The Argo carries with her a myriad of stories. When the ship and her crew travel to an out-of-the-way planet, they discover the inhabitants have a tale of their own to share with them. AU. "The Sands of Time Are Sinking" Installment 13.5


**That Price We Paid**

Hitomi Wildstar fitted another piece back onto the old robot she was helping repair, "How did you manage to do this?" she asked the dull red android.

"The Captain asked me to show the operations staff what would happen if a crew member were to fall off one of the observation chairs. It was necessary for a proper safety demonstration," it replied.

"Uh huh," Hitomi replied, "And it didn't have anything to do with impressing that nice new robot that works in the operations center, right. Isn't her name GRC-5? What was it you called her the other day… 'Grace' wasn't it?" she twisted another piece back into place, taking a second to wipe the sweat from her forehead and toss her long black hair back behind her shoulder. She'd put it up in a ponytail, but it was still getting in her way.

Before she could start on another section of the disassembled robot, she heard the hiss of the medical bay door opening and the sound of familiar footsteps.

"Hey, Thomas," she greeted the other teen with a wave, but never took her eyes off what she was doing. "Come to help out?"

"I suppose," Thomas replied, taking a seat next to Hitomi on the cold floor and reaching out to pick up a piece of red metal. "Got yourself into something else, huh, IQ?"

"I did not 'get into' anything," the android protested, "I was an integral part of a safety demonstration."

"Oh, all right," Thomas chuckled, "If you say so."

Hitomi finally raised her head to look at the young man who'd been her friend ever since she could remember. "Are we almost there?"

"Yeah, Dad says it's not going to be too much longer. No more warps, just waiting to get close enough so we can drop into orbit," he replied.

"Wait – we're that close?" Hitomi asked, eyes wide, "Why didn't you _tell_ me?"

"I don't tend to camp out by the viewports all day. I have class work to get done, ya know," Thomas replied and stood up. "Here." He held out a hand to Hitomi. "Need a lift?"

"Sure," the girl mumbled and took his hand. An instant later she was four feet off the ground. "Whoa! Thomas Levi Sandor – St. John, you _know_ I don't like it when you do that," she protested as she quickly unfolded her legs in midair and set her feet on the ground. "Just because you have a bionic arm doesn't mean you can play tricks on us 'regular' people," she scolded lightly, shaking a finger at the older boy.

"Doesn't mean I can't have some fun once in a while," he replied with a smirk.

"Whatever." Hitomi folded her arms and gave him a half-serious glare for a second, then turned back to the unfinished IQ-9 and said, "I'll let Thomas's dad know we didn't quite get finished, okay?"

IQ made what would have passed for a sighing noise, though it sounded more like air whooshing through an old, clogged filter, "All right, but please tell Sandor that I would like to be completely reassembled in the near future."

"I will," Hitomi smiled at the old robot. She couldn't remember a time when he hadn't been a permanent fixture on board the _Argo_. She'd heard her mother and father tell stories about the very first time this ship set sail. Then there were the other tales – stories of hope, friendship, wars, and conflicts… and even stories of love and redemption.

There were a few of her parents' old stories that always captivated her every time she heard them.

"Wanna see it?" Thomas's voice broke into Hitomi's thoughts.

"Oh!" Hitomi shook her head a little to clear away the spider web of thoughts she'd been stuck in just then, "Yes! Let's go. I really want to see this place. Mom says it's beautiful."

"From what I've heard of it, that's an understatement. My dad says it's like being in the middle of one of the rainforests on Earth." Thomas put in as he and Hitomi left the med bay.

"Oh, I can't wait to see it," she said, very nearly giddy at the prospect of being able to see a place like the one waiting for them at the end of this trip.

The pair took the quickest path to one of the observation decks. When they got there, a number of the crew were already staring out at the nearing world.

"Come on," Thomas caught Hitomi's hand and pulled her through a knot of crewmen, using his bionic arm to lend a bit more umph to his efforts as he pushed his way towards a spot in the corner of the area where they would be able to see better.

They finally made it to their spot. Hitomi stood on tiptoe, peering over the men and woman in front of her.

"Want a lift?" Thomas asked again, holding out his artificial hand.

"Yeah…" Hitomi replied slowly, "I guess I need it this time."

Thomas smiled and knelt down. Then he held out his hand for her to step onto.

Hitomi obliged and with a smooth sweeping motion she was sitting on his shoulder looking out over the entire crowd easily.

"What's it look like?" Thomas asked.

"Oh…" Hitomi breathed, "It's…" she stared at the apparition, wondering if what she was seeing was truly real, or whether it was simply a phantom of her excited imagination, "It's so green, and there are so many rivers everywhere. It's like – it's like – I don't know how to explain it."

"You wanna get back down now?" Thomas asked.

"Not yet," she replied, still staring at the planet, "What's this place called again? I know Dad said its name, but I don't remember it."

"Reef," Thomas supplied.

"Reef…" Hitomi echoed quietly, then in the faintest whisper she added, "I can't wait to meet you…"

Hitomi very nearly ran down the stairs, her bag slung over her shoulder.

"Hey, slow down," Thomas yelled after her, "You're going to fall if you don't watch where you're going."

"I'm being careful," she retorted, "It's not every day you get to see a new planet like this."

Thomas finally caught up to her at the bottom of the stairs. "Yeah, I suppose, but if you fall and break something, you'll end up stuck in the med bay the whole time. Doc hates it when he has to patch up people because they did something dumb."

Hitomi socked Thomas in the shoulder, "Ow!"

"Forgot the prosthetic goes all the way up?" Thomas smirked as they walked with some of the science team to the crew's meeting place.

"So, where was Jordy going to meet us again?" Hitomi asked, craning her neck to see over the men and women walking in front of her.

"That's 'Chief' to you," Thomas retorted with a grin.

"We've known Jordy our whole lives. I don't think he cares what we call him," Hitomi replied without looking at her friend. "Hey! There he is." She pointed animatedly over next to one of the parked survey vehicles.

"Hitomi, Thomas! Over here," the engineer beckoned to the two teenagers.

The pair jogged over to where Jordy Venture waited for them.

"Wow, this is one of the new ones," Thomas admired the vehicle, "Isn't this the one that Dad was talking about the other day?"

"Yep," Jordy replied, "and it's all ours for the afternoon." The engineer looked at Thomas, "Remind me to tell your Dad thanks for letting us take this thing for a spin today. Nothing like a new set of wheels to go see someplace new."

Thomas started to reply, "But, it doesn't have whee –"

"Okay, enough talk about the pretty car, boys," Hitomi jumped into the passenger seat, "We're supposed to be heading to the capital. I, for one, want to see what it's like."

"Since when do you get to sit up front?" Thomas protested.

"Since I didn't stand around talking," Hitomi replied with just the right amount of annoying little sister in her tone.

"Just get in, Thomas," Jordy motioned for the other teenager to climb into the backseat. "You can switch places on the way back."

"Fine," Thomas relented and squeezed into the tight space that passed for a backseat, "I've gotta get Dad to redesign this thing with a little bit more space back here. I feel like a cat stuffed in a really tiny fishbowl."

"Ah, stop complaining. It isn't far to the city anyway," Hitomi said over her shoulder to him as Jordy started up the vehicle and slowly steered through the thick group of men and women preparing to leave for the city.

They wove their way through the crewmen and started in the direction the ambassador told them to go in his instructions.

"Not much of a road, is it?" Hitomi asked as she looked out the window. On either side of the narrow dirt path they followed rose gigantic trees with hundreds of vines hanging down over the trail.

"Maybe they're really into the whole nature thing," Thomas offered as he too watched the scenery go by outside.

"Well, they could at least build a little wider of a road," she replied, turning her eyes forward just in time to see a break in the trees, and to catch her first glimpse of Reef's capitol city. "Uh, Jordy… Are you sure this is the right place?"

"Yeah, this is the place," the engineer replied, "You expected something else?"

"You could say that," Hitomi replied slowly. The humble houses lining the spidering dirt paths looked nothing like the regal cities she had seen on other worlds. And they were certainly nothing compared to the restored Earth. As they approached, she could see people walking along with handmade baskets balanced on their heads, and water pitchers in their hands. Some of the older men and women had curious markings on their foreheads. The indigenous people had a deep blue skin tone – something akin to cobalt – which made their white face markings stand out even more.

They wore clothes that looked handmade, something Hitomi hadn't seen before, and most of them wore no shoes. It was like something straight out of a history book – like stumbling right into the middle of the Amazon rain forest in South America, only the people here were clearly not Earth-born.

Jordy found a good place to park the vehicle and turned it off. "Come on, you wanted to see this place so bad, Hitomi."

"Uh… yeah…" She mumbled, eyes wide, still staring at the foreign sites around her. She slowly climbed out of the vehicle, cautiously looked around.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when Thomas tapped her on the shoulder and said, "You coming?"

"Yeah," she replied quietly, sticking very close to Thomas as they followed Jordy down the wide path cutting through the center of the city – which was actually more of a village.

As they walked, many of the people stopped and bowed to them. Hitomi felt awkward, but offered the same gesture in return, not really knowing what she was expected to do. Her efforts were met with polite smiles and nods, so she felt comfortable assuming that she was, at the very least, not being offensive.

The closer to the center of the village they came, the more often they seemed to come across residents who bore the white markings. Whenever they encountered one, he or she would fold their hands together and bow to the visitors, uttering a single word, "Aberidus."

"What does that mean?" Hitomi whispered to Thomas.

"Your guess is as good as mine," he replied just as quietly.

"It's not like anything I've ever heard before," Hitomi continued, "And _I_ know the language."

"Don't rub it in," Thomas replied, "Just because you've been to Galman and back doesn't mean you know any more about Reef than the rest of us."

"No, I didn't just 'go' to Galman. I've been there with Mom and Dad at least ten times, and sometimes we stayed for weeks, or months at a time, and my godfather is –"

"Okay, okay, we all know where you've been and who you know. Just give it a rest, all right," Thomas said.

"You don't have to get snippy," Hitomi retorted.

"I'm not snippy," Thomas replied, "Haven't you noticed that the trees are denser here? It's getting dark. Kinda creepy."

Hitomi didn't reply, but she did notice the lengthening shadows, and the darker corners. It was getting more difficult to see the path.

Just when she didn't think she could see another step in front of her, the way lit up. Thousands of tiny lights glowed in the air around her. Without thinking, she reached out to touch one of them.

A tiny insect alighted on her finger.

"Fireflies?" Hitomi whispered.

"Looks like it," Thomas replied, "Not a variety I've seen before. Too small to be the common Earth-variety, and _way_ too small and non-violent to be starflies."

"They're beautiful…" Hitomi wondered at the sight as the host of insects grew in number until the air around them was littered with them. It was like walking through a Christmas display back home. The light was soft and blue-white, making even the ground seem to glow before their feet.

Much too soon for Hitomi's liking, they came to the end of the path and ducked into an opening at the base of a gigantic tree. Its branches spread over the whole village – one of the reasons this section of the rainforest was so dark.

Inside glowed numerous lanterns. Some hung from the ceiling, while others were affixed to the inside of the tree. There was a large piece of stone situated in the very center of the hollow. It rose from the floor in a perfect rectangle, nearly touching the top of the hollowed-out area.

Hitomi stared at the stone and noticed in the flickering torchlight that there were markings all over it, reaching all the way up it.

One of the villagers was on a ladder braced up against one side of the stone. In one hand, he held what looked like a chisel, and in the other a sturdy hammer. The clanking of metal against solid rock met her ears, and it dawned on her what he was doing.

"They're writing on it," Hitomi whispered to Thomas.

"Yeah, I see that," he replied quietly. "What do you think they're going to do with it? There isn't any more room on it."

Just when Hitomi was about to answer, the man on the ladder stopped working, and climbed down. Two other men helped him take the ladder down, and they walked right past Jordy, Hitomi, and Thomas out the opening in the tree.

Another man appeared from the shadows beside the stone and began to speak to the half-dozen or so men who were still inside the hollow.

"What're they saying?" Hitomi clandestinely asked Jordy.

"You would know better than me," he replied, "Isn't it some form of Galman?"

"No. I don't recognize it," Hitomi said, eyes glued to the man speaking as he directed the men in the room, motioning for them to back away from the stone.

The speaker stepped behind the rock, disappearing from Hitomi's view. She heard a series of strange clicks and clacks, and then the ground began to shake.

Wide-eyed, she grabbed onto Thomas's near arm to keep from losing her footing. As she watched, the stone began to sink into the dirt, slowly at first, then it picked up speed, disappearing into the earth more and more quickly. Three minutes later, the stone was nowhere to be seen and the only indication of its presence was a bare patch in the shape of a perfect square situated in the center of the floor.

The old man who gave the others direction noticed the three strangers' presence, and with a smile beckoned them over, "Come, come. See our story written in the earth."

Jordy led the way, followed by Thomas, then Hitomi.

When they were a few feet away from the bare patch, the old man bowed and said, "Aberidus, my friends."

"Same to you," Jordy replied cautiously.

The old man grinned again, "I see you do not understand. No matter; when you have heard our story, you will know." He beckoned for the three to come and stand where he was, "Look." He pointed to what appeared to be a gigantic magnifying glass set up next to him. It was anchored into the ground, and stood about four feet high, tall enough for most adults to see through, and short enough for any older child, or adolescent to peer into.

Hitomi watched as Jordy slowly stepped forward and stood before the strange contraption. She watched him lean over and stare into it. Almost instantly he jumped back a look of surprise on his face.

"What is this?" He asked the old man.

"It is the mirror into our past. It tells us of that price we paid long ago," the man replied.

"So, this thing looks into the ground?" Jordy asked, both amazed and confused that a people so apparently technologically backward as this should have something so intricate.

The old man nodded and chuckled, "I would have thought that ones such as you would understand these things. I was sure you had something akin to this."

"Y-yes, we do," Jordy fumbled, "But it doesn't look quite like this."

The elder laughed again and said, "Very good. Tonight, we celebrate an important day in our people's history. We would be honored if you and your crew would be our guests for this occasion."

"Uh… You'll have to ask the Captain about that," Jordy choked out as he peered into the odd mirror once again.

"I will ask him," the Reefer replied. "Does he have a comm code?"

"Yeah… Sure," Thomas slowly pulled out his own communicator and opened it, looking for the number. A moment later, he held out the device, showing the old man the comm code.

"Thank you," the man pulled out a small device of his own and dictated to it the number offered to him. "Call this number," he directed.

"Calling Captain Wildstar," the device replied.

A moment later Hitomi heard the click of someone picking up and her father's familiar, "Hello."

The elder held the odd device up to his face and replied, "Captain, I am elder Batauli. Tonight is the observation of one of our most regarded holidays. We would be honored to have both you and your crew as our guests."

"Are you sure that such a large group of guests would not be an imposition?

The old man chuckled, "We would be delighted to have so many visitors at our table. But, I must warn you, we are avid storytellers and a night like this one is a prime opportunity to share tales of the past with those too young to remember them."

"I'm sure my crew would very much enjoy that," the Captain replied. "When and where should I tell them to be?"

"An hour after sunset, we will all convene in the center of the village. And do not feel obliged to bring anything. Our harvests are always much more plentiful than we need," the old man instructed.

"All right. We will be there."

"Thank you, Captain. My people have not had so many visitors at once since Aberidium."

"Aberidium?" The Captain asked.

"Ah, yes, it will all be explained tonight. Since we have guests, we will be explaining a bit more than usual, I expect. But, it will be a privilege to relive that day again," Hitomi saw a faraway look in the elder's eyes as he said this. "We will see you tonight, Captain. Aberidus."

Hitomi heard her father reply with the same term of farewell as the elder. Puzzled at the continued use of the unfamiliar word, and eager to learn its significance, Hitomi asked Batauli, "What does aberidus mean?"

"All in good time, child," Batauli replied. "I'm sure all your questions will be answered tonight. Now, would you like to see the rest of the village?"

Hitomi's eyes brightened, "Yes, very much."

Batauli beckoned all three strangers back towards the opening in the front of the tree. "Follow me. I will show you as much as we are able to look at before the festivities begin."

* * *

Hitomi felt overwhelmed by all the sites she'd seen so far today. She'd witnessed the people of Reef as they went about their daily lives, and as sunset neared, she watched the village come to life with lights and music. It was like being at one of the Homecoming Day festivals back home. The only difference was she wasn't on Earth.

She sighed as she thought about all of the festivals she'd been to over the years. Homecoming Day was her favorite of them all. Every year the entire Earth celebrated the day that her father's ship returned with the cure to the lethal radiation seeping through the planet. That was before she was born, of course, but she'd heard about that day hundreds of times and often wished she could have been there to see it.

Elder Batauli walked along beside her, Thomas, and Jordy Venture.

Hitomi eased her hands into her pockets and looked around as they neared the center of the festival. She saw many of the _Argo_ 's crew milling about, talking with each other and the Reefers. Along the dirt streets, large lanterns perched atop tall poles, scattering light everywhere. There was laughing and animated conversations everywhere.

They arrived at the center of the village and Hitomi's eyes widened when she saw the dozens of wooden tables set up in a gigantic circle around the center of the town square. Every table was loaded with food – familiar and unfamiliar alike.

"Is all of this for tonight?" Hitomi asked Elder Batauli.

"Yes, and there is plenty more should this run thin," the old man smiled at her.

"Where do we sit?" She replied, peering out at all the tables. Some of them were already claimed by families, or groups of friends, but most of them were still vacant.

"Wherever you choose," Batauli gestured out over the entire square. "This is Aberidium. You may do as you please."

"Will you be sitting with us?" Hitomi asked the old man.

Batauli smiled brightly at the teenager and nodded, "I would be delighted."

"You pick a spot. You know the best places to sit better than us," Hitomi motioned for the elder to go before her.

The old man chuckled and picked his way through the now-filling tables to one near the center of the great circle. He took his seat, and Jordy sat across from him, Thomas to his left. Hitomi claimed the seat next to the elder. They took up barely half of the table and Hitomi wondered who would sit with them.

She looked out over the crowd. Their table allowed them to see nearly everyone else in the square. Some of the _Argo_ 's officers trickled in from the outskirts of the circle. Communications Specialist Glitchman, Head of Stellar Cartography Eager, and Dash, head of the weapons division all sat at one table near the edge of the circle.

Thomas's parents appeared soon afterwards and joined a group of Reefers closer to where Hitomi and Thomas sat.

Hitomi craned her neck as more and more people sat down. Finally, she saw them.

"Mom! Dad! Over here!" She stood up and waved to her parents, brother, and sister, as they started to wade through the sea of people. Her mother saw her first and tapped her father on the shoulder, then pointed to Hitomi. They changed direction and managed to make it to their daughter's table.

"How do you get all the way in here?" David, her ten-year-old brother asked as he hopped into the chair next to her.

Hitomi tousled his light brown hair affectionately, "I have a friend." She pointed to Elder Batauli. David peeked around his big sister and looked at the Reefer with wide eyes.

"You're even bluer than my friends on Galman," he blurted.

"David!" Hitomi's mother chided.

Batauli chuckled heartily at the boy's words, "I should think so."

Astra, only eight, eyed the unfamiliar food as she took a seat next to Thomas. The little girl looked up at the teenager and asked, while pointing to one of the bowls in front of her, "Is it supposed to be all purple and yellow like that?"

"I'm sure it is," Thomas answered, holding in a laugh.

"Honey," Hitomi's mother gently took her sister's hand and put it back down at her side, "things are going to look a little bit different here."

"I know, Mom," Astra replied, "but, how am I supposed to know what I want to eat?"

"Just try a little bit of everything, dear. I'm sure you'll find something you like," Hitomi's mother replied.

"When do we eat?" David piped up, peering around his sister again at elder Batauli.

The old man looked around the circle. The last few seats filled up, and no one else appeared at the edge of the circle.

The elder did not reply to the boy's question. Instead, he stood and stepped away from the table and into the center of the square. A tall light illuminated him clearly as he raised his hands high into the air.

"My friends," Batauli addressed the group, turning around slowly so that he saw everyone, "tonight we commemorate Aberidium. There are guests among us who do not know the story we celebrate. If you have a guest at your table, please, recount to them the tale."

Enthusiastic murmurings echoed all around the circle.

"And now," the elder raised his face to the sky. The entire square quieted immediately as the elder said, "praise be to the One Who lives forever."

"Praise be to the One Who lives forever," the crowd echoed with reverent voices.

"May He bless us and keep us."

Again, the crowd replied, "May He bless us and keep us."

"May His face always shine upon us."

The Reefers echoed, "May His face always shine upon us."

"And give us peace."

The crowd replied, "And give us peace."

The elder lowered his face and left the center of the square without another word. He took his seat beside Hitomi again and looked around the table. "Well, since there are guests at my table, I will account for you the story of Aberidium. But, first, please, eat."

The elder began to pass smooth, wooden plates down the table until everyone had one. Beginning with the selections of food nearest to him, he circulated the serving bowls.

Hitomi snagged a few things, cautiously tasting more than one of them, and discovering that it was all quite good, if a bit different than what she was used to.

"So, what is this story you were talking about?" Hitomi asked the elder after everyone's plate was filled.

Batauli looked around the table, "This is a very long tale, but for the sake of time I will shorten it as well as I can. To recount the entire incident would take many days, and we have but a few hours at the most." The elder spoke to the youngest of the group first, "Do you enjoy stories, young one?"

Astra nodded, wide-eyed, "I love stories!"

Batauli turned his eyes to David, "And you?"

"'Course I do," David replied enthusiastically.

"Are you ready to hear the story of Aberidium?" The old man asked.

Hitomi smiled as her little brother and sister both nodded eagerly.

The elder took a slow drink from his cup, set it back down, and began to speak, "Many years ago, my people were enslaved by an empire led by a cruel man named Bemlayze. He took many of us away to other worlds to do hard work for him. We had no choice but to do as he commanded. If we rebelled, he saw to it that we paid handsomely.

"We did as we were told, for fear that we would not live to see the next sunrise. Forty-nine years passed this way, and many of us wondered if we would ever be free again. We saw people from other worlds brought to Reef to help harvest our lumber and other natural resources. All of them had the same expression on their face as my own people – despair.

"I remember seeing our keepers prowling around the barracks at night, making sure that no one had any delusions of escape or mutiny. Once, they suspected a man in the next barracks over of conspiring with two others to assassinate the general in charge of our work camp.

"The next morning, all three of them were dragged to the middle of the camp and flogged until they couldn't stand. Then, the guards simply left them there. One man from my barracks tried to help them back to their bunks, but when one of the soldiers saw him, he was thrown into a solitary unit and left there for two days without food or water.

"Many of us perished in that awful place. I heard the agonized wails of the sick and dying, and I often wondered if any of them were my family, or others I knew. To this day, I do not know where some of my friends and loved ones are."

Hitomi listened intently, her food lying cold and forgotten on her plate.

The elder continued, "But, fifty long years after Bemlayze began his conquest, something happened that he did not expect. One day, there arrived a convoy, led by a worn, war-beaten ship.

"Bemlayze scoffed at the stranger's arrival, and he threatened to destroy the convoy if its leader did not surrender to him immediately. Instead of bowing to the tyrant, the newcomer stood before Bemlayze and issued a challenge.

"The tyrant was furious that anyone would dare try to assert their authority above his. He tried his best to capture the rebel for many months, but no matter what he did Bemlayze could never capture him. This newcomer traveled as quickly as he could from world to world, freeing them from the iron fist of the tyrant.

"Finally, he came to Reef. I remember that day as clearly as I remember the rising of yesterday's sun," Batauli's eyes grew a bit unfocused as he sank into the memory, "It began with the defeat of the blockade around our world. By that time, we were one of the few planets still under Bemlayze's control, and he was scrambling to hold on to us.

"Our guards at the camp tripled, and we were forced to work day and night. None of us knew what was going on outside the energy fences, but we heard rumors from the soldiers about a man who soundly defeated many of the tyrant's forces. We all looked to the sky from that day forward, praying that he would come to deliver us from our oppressors.

"The entire camp was out early one morning, before dawn, standing in front of our barracks waiting for that day's rollcall. Every morning they would count us to make sure no one escaped during the night. Sometimes, if they were suspicious, there would be an extra rollcall sometime between midnight and dawn.

"I remember the soldier checking names had just called mine and I was about to step forward when there was a deafening explosion just outside the fence. The ground disintegrated, and dirt and rocks flew everywhere, showering us all. Moments later, over a dozen fighter planes landed all around the camp. The pilots looked alien to me, with their flight helmets still on. Looking into one of their faces was like looking at a blank, black wall.

"Though there were far fewer of them than the soldiers, they swarmed the camp. We all ran and hid in our barracks, including me. The roar of laser fire echoed outside for a long time. When all was quiet, we heard the door to the barracks squeal open. We dared not look to see who the victor was. All of us hoped the strangers had won, but we all feared they'd lost to the soldiers' superior numbers.

"I sneaked a look.

"There, standing in the doorway, weapon in hand, was a man wearing the same colors as the pilots, but his garb was much different. His helmet had the same lifeless, black visor, but atop it sat a bright red crest, and from his shoulders hung a black cloak, its crimson interior seeming to glow with the light of purpose.

"He must have seen our fear, because he put away his weapon and reached up to take off his helmet. When I saw his face, I rejoiced. Instead of Cometine olive, or Telzarti white, before our eyes stood one of our own, his skin much lighter than ours but still the same color. No one dreamed that our deliverer would be one of us."

Hitomi's eyes chanced a look at her parents. Her mother was looking down at the table, an odd expression on her face. Her father was doing much the same thing, and Hitomi wondered if they were troubled by the story for some reason.

Astra's eyes were glued to the old man, as were David's. Dismissing her parent's strange behavior for the moment, she turned back to Batauli.

"Then and there we all pledged our loyalty to this man, and before he left our world, we gave him a name, 'Abelt.' It means –"

"The Liberator."

Hitomi jerked around, surprised to hear her father finish the elder's sentence.

"Indeed, it does, Captain Wildstar," the old man smiled, "indeed, it does. But, if I may ask, how do you know this? I have never seen you on Reef before."

Her father folded his hands on the table and looked straight at Batauli, "Because I know him."

Hitomi watched as the elder sat stunned, his jaw hanging open, "Were you there with him that day?"

"No, I was far from here," her father replied.

"Did he tell you this story?" Batauli asked.

"No, his eldest son did, at least some of it," her father unfolded his hands and leaned back in his chair, "but hearing it from you sheds more light on the severity of what happened. I had no idea all the things you went through. I knew he freed you, but until now I didn't know from what."

The elder bowed his head, "We thank the Ever-Living One for the Liberator's courage. It has been eighteen years…"

Hitomi could feel the weight of the conversation, even though she didn't understand everything that passed between the two men. She silently wished that she could have been on Reef when it was freed.

She turned her attention back to her food and picked up what looked like a piece of fruit. She took a bite, chewing slowly as the elder's words lingered with her. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to go through what the Reefers endured.

She looked over at Thomas. He was looking down at his food too, his face serious. He slowly took several bites of his dinner, silent.

Hitomi felt someone poking her. "Yes, David?" She turned to look at her brother.

"Why would anyone make other people do things like that?" He asked, sadness in his brown eyes.

"I don't know, kid," Hitomi wrapped her arm around her little brother and hugged him tightly, "I'm just glad they're free now."

"Me too," her little sister echoed from across the table.

There was silence among the group for quite a while as everyone stared at their food.

"'Aberidus' – it means 'liberty,'" Hitomi said, the spark of understanding lighting her eyes as she turned to Elder Batauli.

The old man nodded and smiled, "What better way to greet each other?"

Hitomi nodded slowly, "Aberidus, Elder Batauli,"

"Aberidus, Hitomi Wildstar."


End file.
